SUWANEE, Ga. - DePauw earned its third SCAC title in the last four years and the program's fifth straight trip to the NCAA Championship over the weekend after defeating Trinity 3-2. Haley Buchanan grooved a pitch over left-center field with two outs and two on for what proved to be the game changing play of the tournament.
- AROUND THE SCAC -
Austin College did not play last week after closing out its season with a record of 15-25, 6-10 in league play.
Birmingham Southern swept
Berry College on the road this weekend to wrap up the season,
winning 8-5 and 8-2 to end the year at 25-9 overall after finishing
with the best record in the East Division. Overall this season, the
Panthers out-scored their opponents 263-92 and out-hit them
329-218, and hit .345 as a team. Junior Ashley Bice led the team
batting .453, while sophomore Brittany Berkopec led with 38 RBI.
The pitching staff, consisting of juniors Ronni Ferris and Beth
Lefler, combined for a 2.30 ERA and nine shutouts. They struck out
177 batters in 222.1 innings with a .251 opponent batting
average.
Centre opened the week with their final regular season
double header on Tuesday, April 19 against Spalding at home in
Danville, Ky. Centre took the first game by a score of 2-1.
Spalding tied the second game up at five all in the top of the
fifth inning, but the Colonels were able to score two runs in the
bottom of the inning and hold Spalding off in the seventh to take
the 7-5 win. The Colonels then traveled to Greencastle, Ind. to
participate in the SCAC Softball Championship. Centre entered the
tournament as the #3 seed in the East and they faced Millsaps, the
#2 seed in the West, in the opening round. The Colonels pulled off
the upset taking the game 8-4. Due to inclement weather the
Colonels had to play their second game, where they would face the
#1 seed in the East, DePauw, on Saturday, April 23. The Tigers were
too much for Centre, as they took the game 9-0 in five innings.
Following the Southwestern vs. Millsaps game, the Colonels then
faced the #2 seed in the East, Rhodes. Centre was able to pull off
their second upset of the tournament by beating the Lynx 4-0.
During their third match of the day, the Colonels competed against
Southwestern, the #1 seed from the West. The Pirates used a strong
first inning to eventually take an 11-5 win over Centre, but the
Colonels would take fourth place in the tournament. The Colonels
finished the season with an overall record of 17-23 and during the
regular season they went 5-11 in the conference.
#20 DePauw won its third SCAC title in
the last four years after winning all three games at this year's
tournament. The Tigers opened with a 9-0 win over Centre before
topping Trinity 4-1 in the winner's bracket and again by a 3-2
score in Sunday's title game. Haley Buchanan's three-run homer
lifted DePauw from a 2-0 deficit against Trinity to the conference
title. For the weekend, the Tigers batted .319 led by Brianne Weeks
at .625 (5-8) including the senior's first career homer. Jen
Kosinski batted .500 (3-6), while Emma Minx hit .444 (4-9) and
shared the team lead with Buchanan as each had four RBI. Emily
Bichler posted a 3-0 record with a 1.11 earned run average. Bichler
held opposing hitters to just a .219 average. The Tigers have
already broken the team record of 27 home runs set last year as
they have 32 this season. Buchanan's 10 homers this year has tied
the school record set by Amy Hallett last year. Kosinski set the
team's single-season record with 18 doubles and Minx holds the
career marks with 11 triples and 18 homers. DePauw wraps up its
regular season this Saturday when it hosts Washington-St. Louis in
a doubleheader before making its fifth straight NCAA
appearance.
Hendrix did not play last week. The Warriors closed out
its season with at record of 12-27, (1-15) in SCAC play.
Millsaps fell 8-4 to Centre on Friday and 8-0
to Southwestern on Saturday in the 2011 SCAC Softball Tournament in
Greencastle. The Majors' first game on Friday was delayed by storms
for almost five hours in the middle of the seventh inning. The
Colonels took an 8-3 lead into the bottom of the inning, but the
Majors only managed one run in the frame.Southwestern scored in the
first inning and never looked back on Saturday. They scored their
eight runs off 11 hits. The Majors had just two in the game ending
the season 16-24.Emily Spicer (OF) was named to the First Team
All-SCAC while Megan Yglesias (1B) made the Second
Team.
Rhodes fell to Trinity 3-0 and Centre 4-0 in the SCAC
Tournament over the weekend. The Lynx closed out their season 25-17
record, 10-6 in conference play.
Sewanee did not play this week. The Tigers finished the
year with a 4-16 overall record and a 0-14 record in conference
play.
After a rain-soaked Friday that delayed the Pirates' first game
at the SCAC Conference Tournament as the #1 seed in the West the
Southwestern University softball team had a
barrage of games on Saturday. They opened the tournament with an
early morning game against Trinity. An errant throw late in the
game allowed the Tigers to score the go-ahead and steal the win
from SU, dropping the PIrates into the loser's bracket.
Southwestern's bats woke up in the next two contests as they easily
handled Millsaps and Centre 8-0, 11-5 respectively. The wins pitted
the Pirates against the Tigers once again for a shot at the SCAC
Championship. SU's bats went quiet once again as Trinity defeated
Southwestern 7-1 to end the Pirate's run at a repeat. SU sits at
29-15 on the year after the weekend and will have to wait until May
2nd to find out if they will make the NCAA Regionals.
Despite coming in as the No. 3 seed in the SCAC West Division,
Trinity got on a hot streak and made it all the
way to the SCAC Championship against hosting DePauw University. The
TU Tigers finished second, though, as DePauw claimed the title with
a 3-2 win. Trinity opened the tournament with a 3-0 shutout win
over Rhodes College, highlighted by a 12-strikeout performance from
pitcher Colbie Devost. By the end of the tournament, Devost, who is
in her first season pitching for the Tigers, would break the school
record for single-season strikeouts. She finished with 164
strikeouts this season, breaking the previous mark set by Erin
Mulvey in 2007. After the opening win, Trinity faced off against
Western Division rival Southwestern – a team that the Tigers
had already lost to four times this season. Things were different
in the tournament, though, as Trinity earned a 2-1 win in the first
meeting, then later won 7-1 over Southwestern to advance to
Sunday’s SCAC Championship game. Trinity also lost 4-1 to
DePauw on Saturday, finishing 3-2 in the tournament.
To view the entire SCAC Fastpitch Weekly for week
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